37 Interesting Facts About Kuwait

Kuwait (Arabic: دولة الكويت‎), officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in Western Asia. The country ranks highly among its regional counterparts in protection of civil liberties,press freedom and constitutionalism.

Fact 1: Oil reserves in Kuwait were discovered in 1934. Its oil reserves are the world’s sixth largest.

Fact 2: The Kuwaiti Dinar, the official currency of Kuwait, is the highest-valued currency in the world. One Kuwaiti Dinar equals 1,000 fils. Their currency is available in both coins and notes in different denominations.

Fact 3: The period between 1946 and 1982 is known as the “Golden Era” for Kuwait. The country became prosperous during this time, achieving independence in 1961.

Fact 4: Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah became the first Emir of the country after its independence. Succession is restricted to descendants of “Mubarak as-Sabah.” “The Great” was the seventh ruler of Kuwait, whose reign lasted from May 18, 1896 until his death on November 28, 1915.

Fact 5: Kuwait is the first Gulf country to have established a constitution and parliament.

Fact 6:The Constitution of Kuwait was promulgated in 1962.

Fact 7:Kuwait’s legal system is largely secular.

Fact 8: Kuwait has the 15th-tallest sculpted tower in the world – The Al Hamra Tower. Located in Kuwait City, it is also the country’s tallest tower. It took almost six years to complete. It is 414 meters tall with 80 floors.

Fact 10: In August 1990, Kuwait was invaded and forcibly annexed by Iraq.

Fact 11: The KIA (Kuwait Investment Authority) is the world’s oldest sovereign wealth fund. Kuwait is also the largest investor from the Arab world. An estimated $8.4 billion was invested by Kuwait in FDIs during 2013.

Fact 12: Kuwait was a tiny, unnamed Gulf coastal locality prior to 1716, when several clans of the Aniza tribe migrated from the interior of the Arabian Desert. The land was later called Kuwait – a diminutive of the word kut, meaning “fort.” Pirates raided the area from sea and land,which caused decline of the region’s economic condition. The British took over piracy in the region, and thereafter Kuwait saw prosperity in the form of developing trade and shipbuilding opportunities.

Fact 13: The oil-rich country exports more than 60% of its oil to Asian countries. Cost of oil production in Kuwait is the lowest in the world due to the fact that the oil lies close to the surface of earth, making it easy and economical to lift to the top.

About Kuwait’s: people, sex-ratio, large number of immigrants, size, women’s rights and more…

Fact 14: Falcons are found in various places throughout Kuwait. Kuwaiti stamps and currencies always contain falcon imagery. The falcon is its national bird, which is why it is so dominant.

Fact 15: There are no words in the national anthem of Kuwait. It consists solely of melody.

Fact 16: The metric system has been adopted as the country’s legal standard of weights and measures.

Fact 17: Kuwait is slightly smaller than the state of New Jersey in terms of land area.

Fact 18: Kuwait has a total boundary length of 462 kilometers, and a coastline of 499 kilometers.

Fact 19: And Kuwait does not have a settled boundary with Iraq.

Fact 20: Kuwaiti nationals are largely employed by the public and government sectors, while immigrants comprise of 80% of the country’s labor force.

Fact 21: The majority of its population resides along the coastal region.

Fact 22: There are 150 males for every 100 females in the country.

Fact 23: There are more than one million non nationals living in the country, citing better trade and job opportunities. The majority of this population migrated to the coastal region after the discovery of oil. As of 2013, its total population consisted of 60% migrants.

Fact 24: There are no railways in Kuwait.

Fact 25: Kuwait is the only GCC country besides Bahrain to have a local Christian population who hold citizenship.

Fact 26: In April 2006, women voted for the first time in Kuwait after the country abandoned its ban on women’s suffrage.

Fact 27: Kuwait has 10% of all the oil reserves in the world. The sale of oil to other countries is responsible for almost half of Kuwait’s income.

Fact 28: Because of difficult climatic conditions in the country, farming is not possible. Instead, Kuwait buys food from other countries, and catches fish on its own.

Fact 29: Kuwait is also a signing member of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits the testing of nuclear weapons and substances in the region.

Fact 30: Despite the fact that Kuwait had seen difficulties due to war with Iraq; the country has a high standard of living.

Fact 31: Kuwait is devoid of permanent rivers and lakes, which means that it has no fresh-water sources above the ground. It uses wells and performs desalination of sea water for drinking and other purposes. However, Kuwait has plenty of oil, as well as some of the largest and most advanced desalination plants in the world to produce water for its consumption.

Fact 32: Only 1% of the total available land area is utilized for growing crops. The government actively supports agriculture and provides loans and other aids to help people to pursue farming in the region.

Fact 33: There are no natural forests in Kuwait. However, there are billions of barrels of oil available to the country in its underground reserves.

Fact 34: Kuwait also appears on the list of the world’s top-ten ‘fattest’ countries.

Fact 35: Kuwait University (opened in 1966) is the country’s only university.

Fact 36: 90% of the more-than 150,000 volumes in The National Library of Kuwait are in the Arabic language.

Fact 37: There are no territories or colonies in Kuwait.

Kuwait facts

Capital City

Kuwait City
29°22′N 47°58′E

Largest City

Kuwait City
29°22′N 47°58′E

Total area

17,818 sq km

Population

2,788,534 (July 2015 est.)

Official Language

Arabic

Borders

Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran

Currency

Kuwaiti dinar (KWD)

Religion

Islam

Life expectancy

77.82 years
Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.